DrJohnStMark

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Posts by DrJohnStMark

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  46

  An atheist and a creationist are walking along a riverbank . . . .

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the course of this river has obviously been designed, it's avoiding every single tree on the riverbank!.

  creationist: are you trying to tell me that all those plants know where the riverbank is?.

  atheist: no one designed the river!

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  DrJohnStMark

  BarefootSevant:The whole context of these verses is about natural cycles - the solar cycle, the cycling winds, and the water cycle; that somehow the water that streams into the sea eventually returns to the streams again. These are scientifically accurate observations, and at the very least demonstrates remarkable insight, for the time.

  The writer of Ecclesiastes makes some nice observations. I agree on that, he is clever. I disagree with the WT argument, which is wrong. In those verses there is no indication of divine inspiration.
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  15

  Is the book of Job anti-humanist? Zizek's alternative reading.

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the book of job has sometimes been read as an anti-humanist reply to the notion that the creator is a god who takes a personal interest in humanity.. job was stricken with illness and various trials.

  his three "friends" suggested that he must have done something to offend god for these terrible tribulations to have befallen him.

  job protested his innocence.

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  DrJohnStMark

  God demonstrates to Job his antiquity and his knowledge

  Yes. God can only boast about his encyclopedic knowledge and eloquence, due to his age, but not really his wisdom (after all his miserable failures that are omitted in the book of Job).
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  15

  Is the book of Job anti-humanist? Zizek's alternative reading.

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the book of job has sometimes been read as an anti-humanist reply to the notion that the creator is a god who takes a personal interest in humanity.. job was stricken with illness and various trials.

  his three "friends" suggested that he must have done something to offend god for these terrible tribulations to have befallen him.

  job protested his innocence.

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  DrJohnStMark

  But if man cannot comprehend divine justice, then Job's questions cannot possibly be answered.

  So the answer is 42... More seriously: At the time of compiling the book of Job, there was legitimate uncertainty about how strong the God of the jewish people was, compared with the other Gods of the prospering nations around, and this is reflected in the text.
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  62

  Which 5 Books Would You Recommend?

  by leavingwt in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  which 5 books would you recommend?.

  there is a wealth of information, just waiting to be shared with persons who have an open mind and a desire to know the truth about the watchtower society.

  please list five books (more or less) that you would recommend to new ones.. i hope to discover something new from your lists.

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  DrJohnStMark

  A list of five (could give ten or so). In an irrelevant order:

  - James Penton: Apocalypse Delayed (about JW)

  - Carl Sagan: The Demon-Haunted World (about it all, surprisingly JW mentioned)

  - Kurt Vonnegut: Cat's Craddle (about life)

  - Magnus Mills: Three to See the King (about freedom)

  - The Bible including the Apocrypha (the best apostate book ever)

  Of these KV had most influence on me when young and CS around the time of getting out of the org.
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  15

  Is the book of Job anti-humanist? Zizek's alternative reading.

  by slimboyfat in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  the book of job has sometimes been read as an anti-humanist reply to the notion that the creator is a god who takes a personal interest in humanity.. job was stricken with illness and various trials.

  his three "friends" suggested that he must have done something to offend god for these terrible tribulations to have befallen him.

  job protested his innocence.

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  DrJohnStMark

  Yahweh: Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

  Perhaps Yahweh hides behind that rhetoric because he feels so insecure.
• 
  13

  Biblical Archaeology Kit for JWs

  by leavingwt in

  1. social
  2. humour

  rush on over to jwr and order your "biblical archaeology kit for jws", while supplies last.

  .

  http://www.jehovahswitnessrecovery.com/phpbb3/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=5249#p69216.

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  DrJohnStMark

  For serious study a highliter pen and pen lighter combo.
• 
  41

  Demonic Possesion of Inaminate Objects

  by cantleave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a phenonoma often discussed by jw's.

  how unique is this idea to jw's?.

  anyone got any good stories on this subject?.

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  DrJohnStMark

  Oracle: What happened next is just too frightening to reveal.

  They finally saw the light? The ouija-board effect?

  I remember personally destroying some harmless LP's because of supposed backwards messages. It did strengthen the faith at that time but could not prevent what happend soon after that: A pentecostal preacher tried to drive the devil out of me. He was not able to do that...
• 
  41

  Demonic Possesion of Inaminate Objects

  by cantleave in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  this is a phenonoma often discussed by jw's.

  how unique is this idea to jw's?.

  anyone got any good stories on this subject?.

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  3. 
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  DrJohnStMark

  KidKool: Took me a while before I could watch any horror movies

  I have the same experience. Even if I no more at the intellectual level believed in the supernatural at all, I still at the emotional level had this fear (as a born-in jw) for more than five years. Consider it as a bonus: Those (stupid) movies were then really scary.
• 
  32

  Are you an 'Ex Witness' or just you?

  by creativhoney in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i just wondered how people feel about this?

  - do some only mix with other ex witnesses a couple of my friends, and it seems that by definition, they are 'ex witnesses' almost like a religion in itself.

  - i would never define myself as an 'ex employee of xxx' as you leave it behind it doesnt define you.

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  DrJohnStMark

  Usually, I do not think of myself as an ex-jw. Yet, when something big in life happens, I do, at least for a while. This should have something to do with the fact that born-in jw's are not very well equipped to cope with personal losses etc, since those were not supposed to be so final or important... we were supposed to live forever...
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  46

  An atheist and a creationist are walking along a riverbank . . . .

  by nicolaou in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  the course of this river has obviously been designed, it's avoiding every single tree on the riverbank!.

  creationist: are you trying to tell me that all those plants know where the riverbank is?.

  atheist: no one designed the river!

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• 

  DrJohnStMark

  This was a good one...

  About the river... it reminds me of one faulty argument by the WT society: the one on Ecclesiastes 1:7. It is claimed in many WT books (Creation etc) and even on their own www pages that this particular verse exemplifies divine inspiration of the Bible by "describing the water cycle" somehow.
  
  Now where in that verse can you find a cycle? It only says that rivers go into the sea and the sea is not filled. Only one step of the cycle (consisting of many steps as we know today) is given. From the point of view of the WT argument the most critical step of the cycle would be how water gets back up. However, in that verse only the most obvious step of the cycle is given.
  
  Giving one step of a cycle certainly is not "describing a cycle" (except in the usual WT logic where broken links in chains of inference are allowed and even necessary). In this case a huge leap of faith is needed to see a justification for such faith (circular chain). Did I really believe such argumentation back then?
  
  By the way, the reason for the sea not being filled was 'known' in the biblical times: Namely, from the edge of the flat earth the water falls down... Also, the origin of rain is 'explained' in Bible as sent by God in Matthew 5:45. And Isaiah 55:10 might say something about the cycle: "For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither..."